Areas of Environmental Action:

Biodiversity, Education, Forest

Summary of Achievements:

Primatologist Jane Goodall began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in June 1960, under the mentorship of anthropologist and palaeontologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Her work at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals.

In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The Institute also is widely recognized for establishing innovative, community-centred conservation and development programs in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots education program in more than 70 countries.

Dr. Goodall travels an average 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises, and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on the earth. She continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility and ability to effect change through consumer action, lifestyle change and activism.

Dr. Goodall's scores of honours include the French Legion of Honour, Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research 2003, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science, and the Gandhi/King Award for Non-violence. In April 2002 UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Dr. Goodall a United Nations “Messenger of Peace.”

Her list of publications includes two overviews of her work at Gombe — In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window — as well as two autobiographies in letters, the spiritual autobiography Reason for Hope and many children's books. Her most recent book is Harvest for Hope (2005). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behaviour is the definitive scientific work on chimpanzees and is the culmination of Jane Goodall's scientific career. She has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and is featured in the large-screen format film, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002).